Vacation Homes

Cloverdale preserves its links to the past

Ishraj Rasode dances up and almost immediately starts telling me the history of Eric Anderson’s log cabin that sits on the grounds of the thoroughly modern Surrey Museum in Cloverdale.

The cabin is the oldest existing building in Surrey. An early settler, Anderson went to sea on a whaling ship as a boy of 11, leaving behind his family. It’s a fact that seven-year-old Ishraj can’t quite fathom any more than she can imagine living with five others in the one-room cabin.

The cabin is fitting start to our walk because Cloverdale’s preserved links to the past are one reason her mother, Surrey Councillor Barinder Rasode, is moving here with her three children.

“It’s still a small community even though it’s in a large city,” says Barinder. “It’s overflowing with heritage. But intermingled are South Asian shops and services ... It represents Surrey to me.”

Despite its distinct character and being bordered on three sides by property protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve, Cloverdale is one of the city’s fastest growing town centres after years of having been bypassed by developers.

What that’s meant is that Cloverdale’s main street just a two-minute walk from the museum is like a movie set with its heritage buildings, locally owned stores and restaurants.

It’s so quintessentially small-town that it ought to be called Main Street instead of 176th Street. And if it seems familiar, it’s because for a decade Cloverdale doubled as Clark Kent’s hometown in the television series Smallville. (Folks at the Chamber of Commerce office say half a dozen people a week still come here just to see it.) Dann’s Electric, for example, has been operating here since 1932. There’s a 1958 television set in the window. Inside, there are stereos in cabinets as well as flatscreen TVs and a whole wall of plugs and other bits.

By the door, a couple of sets of rabbit ears are for sale – surprising, since I keep seeing ads telling people that after Aug. 31 they’ll be obsolete.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” 87-year-old Allan Dann tells me. “You’ll still be able to use them if you get little box.”

Dann’s father, Ernie, started the business in 1921 and moved to this spot in 1932. It was built by the Royal Bank and during Prohibition, it was the first liquor store once you crossed the border. Dann remembers Americans lining up outside.

He shows me the original bank vault, tells me about King George officially opening the highway and about being a volunteer ticket-taker 65 years ago at the first Cloverdale Rodeo.

“We still think of this as a small town,” says Dann, who lives on the same street that he grew up on. “But I think it’s better now because it’s bigger and there are a lot more activities.”

When he was a young man, Dann paid five cents to take the streetcar to Langley. Soon, he’ll see both streetcars and interurban railcars running again as part of the city’s revitalization plans.

The restored Streetcar 30 (renamed Clover Belle) will run up 176th Street to the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, while a refurbished interurban railcar will run from the new car barn at the foot of 176th Street to Sullivan along the Fraser Valley spur line.

Down the street from Dann’s Electric is the art deco Clova Theatre, which was built in 1947. For $8, you can watch two feature films during the week and, to save trees and minimize waste, patrons are advised to bring their own containers for pop and popcorn.

Further up the street, old shops are being refurbished and finding new life as specialty clothing boutiques and interior design stores.

But Cloverdale isn’t all cowboys and old stuff.

A third of its population is under 19 – it’s the highest percentage of any urban centre in Canada and attributed to Cloverdale being affordable.

That’s something Rasode says the city wants to protect.

Unlike some municipalities, Surrey and its mayor, Dianne Watts (who’s also lives in Cloverdale), are not at all reluctant to assume responsibility for housing, homelessness and building urban infrastructure whether its at the new downtown centre or the six town centres (including Cloverdale).

To stimulate redevelopment, the city’s development corporation has been buying up derelict land and decrepit buildings and forming partnerships with private developers to replace them.

Cloverdale’s West Village project downtown will incorporate a new legion, retail, commercial and 440 resident units as well as a plaza that will link it to 176th Street.

Nearby, a new homeless shelter is being planned by city’s Homeless Housing Fund and will be built next to the animal shelter that’s already being built.

Why? Because Rasode says one barrier to people going to homeless shelters is that they can’t take pets. This way, both the people and the pets can be safely housed close to each other. The reciprocal benefit is that homeless people will be welcomed as volunteers at the animal shelter.

“We’re conscious of a mix of affordable housing, multi-family, seniors and high-end housing. It’s important that we have that mix.”

Equally important is ensuring ethnic diversity.

“We don’t want to be like England with divisions based on ethnicity,” says Rasode, a first-generation Canadian. “It’s about inclusion and Surrey is a testing ground for that.”

Unlike when her father – a turbaned Sikh arrived from India, she says, so many services are available in Punjabi that some immigrants – especially older people – don’t learn to speak English.

“You need commonality and that commonality is the language. Without it, there are even language gaps with their own children.”

As we walk up 176th, the changes are reflected in the retail shops. Malary’s is a destination women’s boutique specializing in local designers that, attracts clients from all over Metro. Nearby is La Belle Vie, a home décor store that wouldn’t be out of place in Vancouver’s Gastown or South Main.

Population growth is driving Cloverdale’s changes. But what’s informing the transformation is the desire of Cloverdale’s residents – old and young – to respect and preserve this community’s history.

At Ishraj’s insistence, we finish our walk with lunch at The Vault in – yes – the old bank vault at the back of the restaurant. It’s painted bright orange. The heavy steel door is propped open and an escape hatch cut into the thick wall that’s big enough that, in a pinch, Ishraj could scramble through.

dbramham@vancouversun.com

NEXT WEEK: Next Saturday’s neighbourhood walk is along a section of North Shore’s Spirit Trail with Sheryl Fisher, a member of Squamish Nation who talks about the significance of the land and sea to her, her family and her people.

But if you’d like to take a similar guided walk on Sunday, Aug. 28, North Vancouver Museum’s first nations curator Tracy Williams is leading one that will focus on traditional food gathering, preparation and preservation. For information and registration, call 604-990-3700 ext. 8016.